Trending
Owlcat Games has revealed extensive new details about The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, the studio's first third-person action RPG following successful isometric titles like Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. Game Design Director Leonid Rastorguev and CTO Alexey Drobyshevsky discussed the challenges of switching to Unreal Engine 5 and scaling up production for their most ambitious RPG yet.
Signature choice and consequence systems
The team confirmed the same choice-and-consequence systems from previous Owlcat games are present, with technology tracking every player decision and narrative state. "We still make an RPG, and choices matter," Rastorguev said. The studio's dialogue editor has been rebuilt for Unreal Engine alongside their "etude system" that maintains narrative continuity.
Major Unreal Engine rewrites for zero-gravity combat
Interestingly, zero-gravity combat emerged as the developers' proudest achievement and biggest technical hurdle. "Unreal Engine, and every single engine, assumes that there's a plane that you work on," Drobyshevsky explained. "It took a lot of work and rewriting major parts of the engine to make this work." Originally planned as a side feature, zero-G sections expanded after the team invested significant development time. Magnetic boots replaced free flight to combat motion sickness, with multiple camera iterations refining the experience.
No classes and Mass Effect-like companions
The RPG systems abandon traditional classes for an open approach where players can shape their builds to their own liking.
As for companions, they function similarly to Mass Effect, with players issuing orders rather than taking direct control, which is music to my ears.
Owlcat say the game opens linearly during the first couple of hours before expanding to solar system exploration with freedom to choose destinations including Ganymede, Ceres, Mars, and Luna.
Nanite, Lumen and other Unreal tech
To no one's surprise, the development required a team three to four times larger than previous projects, focusing on higher production values and visual fidelity through Unreal Engine 5 features like Nanite and Lumen.
"Every emotion, every object passed from one character to another" requires production work, Rastorguev noted, fundamentally changing the development cycle. Despite increased scale, Osiris Reborn will be shorter in playtime compared to Owlcat's notoriously lengthy previous titles.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn currently has no release date but it's coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
DON'T MISS:
- Divinity Will Be Turn-Based RPG with Early Access Release, Larian Confirms
- Sci-fi RPG Exodus showcases unique gameplay mechanics and confirms an early 2027 release window
- The Blood of Dawnwalker Channels Strong Witcher Energy in Its First Gameplay Reveal
- Witcher 3 could be getting third DLC expansion according to credible Polish source
